Music news, reviews, photos, features, films.

With two tracks already out pummelling the public’s ears, HAUNCH have laid out an uncompromising mission statement for the release of their debut full-length. Made up of members of East Antrim alt-rock royalty Therapy? and Throat, HAUNCH’s Lay My Bones Beside The Others means serious business (in as much as “dark, distorted pop songs” do) and […]

Hailing from Cork, though fronted by Australian musician and producer Ciaran Corcoran, promising noise-pop upstarts Perish have delivered one of the first true sonic gems of 2018 with their Inertia EP. Calling to mind the melodic, hazed guitar work of Kevin Shields, as well as the rhythmic density and simplicity of British post-punk masters The Fall (RIP […]

Having launched new album Eugene mere days ago in Belfast, and with the Dublin launch set for tonight in The Underground Venue, get familiar with the melodic, fuzzy lo-fi indie of Buí. A relatively new project (birthed in June of this year), Buí is a collaboration between Josh Healy (Josh The Human), Joel Harkin, Lady Pocket Drummer Matt Soan, […]

Joe Geaney, aka Tipperary’s Floating Ballroom, is a name you’ll likely be hearing much of in the coming months. With a sound rooted firmly in the atmospherics of Cologne-style ambient electronica, but bearing the hallmarks of the Detroit / Berlin futuristic motorik style, this emerging Irish producer may only be beginning to pick up pace, […]

Belfast’s Shadow Police are something of a breath of fresh air as electronic-indie music grows increasingly commercially sterile. The duo of Daniel Thornton and Matthew Duly, fresh-faced as they may be, are distinctly aware of their chosen genre’s electro-pop forefathers, and latest track ‘Dead Dance’ betrays a nod to the kind of melodic, shimmering timbres of […]

What do you get if you put some of Dublin’s finest musicians and songwriters together in one supergroup? No, this is not the set up for a bad punchline. The answer is Autre Monde, the latest Irish musical ensemble to get excited who are from the offset far from a joke. Comprised of Paddy Hanna on […]

Having found a mutual love for the complex and the heavy within the Belfast gig scene, Danny McCelland and Charlie Cairns, aka WASPS, found little other option than to start their own math-rock outfit (the matching ASIWYFA tattoos a cosmic indicator of sorts). The result was a sound that is both brash and intricate, distilled promisingly […]

More readily known for esoteric electronica, Belgium has a new musical draw found in the form of the garage-rock currently being dispensed by up and coming band Mountain Bike. The four-piece, hailing from Brussels, have just released new single ‘This Lonely Place’, and it’s a fuzzy, jangling four minutes of promise. Taken from their upcoming About Too […]

It’s taken Roisin El Cherif a while to get to the release of her debut EP, due early next year, but it’s not been time wasted. Developing a sound that’s equal parts dramatic and mainstream friendly, the Galway based singer plays a late night show at Whelan’s this Friday 18th.

The name Divan may be a new one to us here at State but there are familiar faces in the photo above. A new incarnation of the Ambience Affair, debut single ‘Sale Of Lakes’ proves that the name change hasn’t had an effect on their musical ambition, indeed breathing new life into their sound. Album […]

The similarities between the Irish and Canadian music scenes have often been pointed out. Electronic duo Honey Beard represent that special relationship, based in Toronto and made up of a representative from each nation. The band play their debut Irish shows this week, headlining a late show Upstairs in Whelans tonight (Thursday) and supporting Ham […]

There we were, just coasting to the weekend when something arrived that truly stopped us in our tracks. A spoken word emcee from London, Kojey Radical’s ‘Footsteps’ is an astonishing combination of music, visuals, dance and conscious lyrics – “you think I give a fuck about a genre? I’m still trying to send my parents […]

Hailing from Dundalk, Just Mustard are a five-piece outfit ticking all the right boxes when it comes to delivering a fluid blend of noise-rock, shoegaze, electronica and, seemingly, whatever other sonic avenue they direct themselves down. Having cut their teeth in 2015 with a number of formidable live appearances, you’ll be able to catch them soon enough […]

She had us at the Spice Girls influence to be honest, but there’s a lot more to Dubliner Emma Lou than just a love of pop music and her past singing covers on YouTube. Channelling the classic sound of soul of blues into something modern, her music brings a welcome touch of funk to the […]